Jan
Blachowicz needed an impressive performance to get Jon Jones’
attention at
UFC Fight Night 167, and he delivered, knocking out Corey
Anderson out in the opening stanza of their headlining bout at
the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, N.M., on Saturday night.
With wins in seven of his last eight Octagon appearances, the
Polish light heavyweight appears to be on the brink of a title
shot. He also avenges a previous decision loss to Anderson from
2015.
For now, Blachowicz moves from No. 7 to No. 6 in our latest light
heavyweight rankings, while his top competition for the next
championship opportunity, Dominick
Reyes, moves to fifth. Anderson, meanwhile, falls two spots to
seventh in defeat.
Elsewhere, Ray Borg
authored a clear-cut decision win over No. 6 flyweight Rogerio
Bontorin in a featured bout at UFC Rio Rancho. However, the
former title challenger missed weight by two pounds, so he doesn’t
get to enter the flyweight poll. Since Bontorin technically did not
lose a 125-pound bout, he stays put at sixth. Finally, No. 12
women’s bantamweight Macy
Chiasson rebounded from her first career defeat to outpoint
short-notice foe Shanna
Young, allowing her to maintain her position on the 135-pound
bubble.
Jan Blachowicz
